Photochemical Destruction of Cyanide in Landfill Leachate
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 124, Issue 11
Abstract
The Allen Park Clay Mine Landfill, owned by Ford, produces a leachate that occasionally contains cyanide at levels marginally below the discharge limit. The form of the cyanide in the leachate was found to be iron-cyanide complexes that resist oxidation by a conventional treatment method, alkaline oxidation. Furthermore, the leachate also was found to contain a relatively large amount of organics (>1,000 mg/L of chemical oxygen demand), which would exert additional demand for oxidizing agents (e.g., chlorine). A study was performed to determine what treatment technology could be employed in the event treatment becomes necessary because of potential changes in the leachate characteristics and/or discharge limits. In this study, among several chemical oxidation methods, ultraviolet (UV) irradiation with or without ozone was investigated as a treatment option. The following are the primary findings: (1) UV irradiation alone was effective for removing the iron-cyanide complex in both the leachate and the clean water; (2) the demand for UV or ozone by chemical oxygen demand was relatively low for this leachate; (3) ozone alone was not effective for removing the iron-cyanide complex; and (4) UV irradiation alone and UV irradiation with ozone resulted in the same removal for total cyanide in clean-water experiments, but the UV irradiation alone left some free cyanide whereas the UV irradiation with ozone did not.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
1.
Bernstein, F. E.(1973). “Cyanide detoxification using adsorption and catalytic oxidation on granular activated carbon.”J. Water Pollution Control Fed., 45, 221–231.
2.
Gurol, M. D. and Bremen(1985). “Kinetics and mechanism of ozonation of free cyanide species in water.”Environ. Sci. and Technol., 19, 804–809.
3.
Gurol, M. D., and Woodman, J. H. (1989). “Removal of iron cyanide by photolysis and chemical oxidation. hazard. and Ind. wastes.”Proc., 21st Mid-Atlantic Industrial Waste Conf., Technomic Pub. Co., Inc., Lancaster, Pa., 282–290.
4.
Hoigne, J., and Bader, H.(1976). “The role of hydroxyl radical reactions in ozonation processes in aqueous solution.”Water Res., 10, 377–386.
5.
Meeussen, J. C. L., Keizer, M. G., and de Haan, F. A. M.(1992). “Chemical stability and decomposition rate of iron cyanide complexes in soil solutions.”Envir. Sci. and Technol., 26, 511–516.
6.
Meeussen, J. C. L., Temminghoff, E. J. M., Keizer, M. G., and Novozamsky, I.(1989). “Spectrophotometeric determination of total cyanide, iron-cyanide complexes, free cyanide and thiocyanate in water by a continuous-flow system.”Analyst, 114, 959–963.
7.
Moggi, L., Bolletta, F., Balzani, V., and Scandola, F.(1966). “Photochemistry of coordination compounds-XV.”J. Inorg. Nucl. Chem., 28, 2589–2597.
8.
Nutt, S. G., and Zaidi, S. A. (1984). “Treatment of cyanide-containing wastewaters by the copper catalyzed SO2/air oxidation process.”Proc., 38th Purdue Industrial Waste Conf., Ann Arbor Science Publishers, Inc., Ann Arbor, Mich, 357–368.
9.
Salle, A. J. (1961). Fundamental principles of bacteriology. McGraw-Hill, Inc., New York.
10.
Shchegoleva, I. S.(1978). “The photolysis of potassium hexacyanoferrate (III) in aqueous solutions.”Zhur. Fiz. Khim., 52, 713–715.
11.
Shibayama, S. (1985). “Cyanide decomposition.”Jap. Kokai Tokkyo Koho, JP 60257895 A2 851219.
12.
Simovic, L., and Snodgrass, W. J. (1985). “Natural removal of cyanides in gold milling effluents—evaluation of removal kinetics.”Water Pollution Res. J. Canada, 20, 120–133. Standard methods for the examination of water and wastewater . (1992). 18th Ed., American Public Health Association, American Water Works Association and Water Pollution Control Federation, Washington, D.C.
13.
van der Merwe, P. F., and van Deventer, J. S. J. (1988). “The influence of oxygen on the adsorption of metal cyanides on activated carbon.”Chem. Engrg. Comm., 65, 121–138. Water analysis handbook . (1992). 2nd Ed., Hach Company, Loveland, Colo.
14.
Weber, W. J. Jr. (1972). Physicochemical processes for water quality control. Wiley-Interscience, New York.
15.
White, G. C. (1972). Handbook of chlorination. Van Nostrand Reinhold Books, New York.
16.
Zaidi, S. A., and Carey, J. (1984). “Ultraviolet irradiation for removing iron cyanide from gold mill effluents.”Proc. of the Conf. on Cyanide and the Environment, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colo., 363–377.
17.
Zaidi, A., Conrad, B., Devuyst, E., Schmidt, J., and Whittle, L. (1986). “Performance of a full scale effluent treatment system using the SO2/air process for removing free and complex cyanide.”Proc. of the Industrial Wastes Symp., 59th Annu. Conf. of Water Pollution Control Federation, Water Pollution Control Federation, Alexandria, Va., 284– 297.
18.
Zeelvalkink, J. A., Visser, D. C., Arnoldy, P., and Boelhouwer, C.(1979). “Mechanism and kinetics of cyanide ozonation in water.”Water Res., 14, 1375–1385.
19.
Zwikl, J. R., Buchko, N. S., and Junkins, D. R.(1982). “Physical/chemical treatment of coke plant wastewaters.”Envir. Progress, 1, 244–251.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
Copyright © 1998 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Published online: Nov 1, 1998
Published in print: Nov 1998
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.